Last Saturday we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. We woke up that morning at our trailer and my first thought was, "Is this our last wedding anniversary?" We enjoyed a peaceful breakfast together and packed up and headed home. On the way home we listened to the latest Hosanna/Mattaniah cd, "With a Joyful Song", which just came out. It is very well done and I think, the best cd they've made yet; nice variety and well worth purchasing! We had the sunroof open and the volume cranked, going down the 401 singing along with the choir, the beautiful words of Psalm 42, "As the hart about to falter, in its trembling agony..." and the words sank deeply into our hearts as we sang, "o my soul, why art thou grieving....Hope in God....Let Him still thy refuge be... He has ever turned my sorrow into gladness on the morrow. " The tears were streaming down our faces as those familiar words held so much more meaning for us now.

 

We made it home on time to go to the pig roast put on by our church family. We enjoyed fellowship with many members of the church but did not eat because our children were putting on a dinner for us. We went to our daughter's house at 7:00 and ate a delicious dinner of chicken and ribs, twice baked potatoes, salads, wine and yummy creme brulee for dessert,(made from scratch by our multi-talented son, Gerrit:) It was so wonderful to enjoy a peaceful adult only dinner with our children and their spouses. We laughed and took some pictures and made a wonderful memory together.

 

I did not sleep well Sunday night, probably because I knew I had to go back to work the next day, wondering how that would go after being off for 8 weeks and worrying about leaving Jack alone after being together 24/7. So far it's going well. Jack is spending this week at school with the vice principals preparing for the new school year. Tuesday he was invited to go salmon fishing on a chartered boat with a group of guys and had a great time, enjoying the weather, the fellowship, the food, etc. It would have been even more fun if he would have actually caught a fish! :)

 

Today we had an appointment at Medigas to pick up his bipap machine. His first piece of equipment. There will be many more. We'll see how his night goes attached to that thing.

 

We are very thankful that, except for some cramping at night, he does not have any pain.

 

Jack's walking is getting worse and he's starting to use the walker around the house. He's been holding off using it as long as possible, putting off the inevitable day when he has to be seen in public for the first time with it. It's humiliating and embarassing to be dependant on it but yet when he does use it there's an element of freedom attached with it because he regains his balance and the fear of falling is eliminated.

 

The bathroom renovation is progressing nicely. Jack was worried about deforming the house and making it difficult for resale, but actually it's turning out much nicer than the bathroom we had before!. The porch lift was easily installed in the garage and is a great hit with the grandchildren and the great-grandparents. The grandchildren take turns with the controls on opa's electric lazyboy, tipping it forward all the way until they tumble out onto the floor. Opa always has a way of making everything fun for them and that is why they love him so much.